Coming off a controversial second season, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 returns to cover an action-heavy arc (The Culling Game Part 1) that is as much fighting as it world-builds and introduces a slew of new characters. This season sees Yuji Itadori and Yuta Okkotsu, with their friends and mentors, planning and executing a way to take down Kenjaku (the demon possessing Seguru Geto’s body) and rescue the world’s strongest sorcerer (and viewership fan-favourite character), Satoru Gojo, from the prism realm. Even though there are no Gojo appearances this season, this was probably the best season yet.
I was happy to see that the Itadori’s Extermination arc was short, covering the first two episodes. It could have even been one episode, but I was glad MAPPA reeled us back into the action and emotional weight of the situation with these first two episodes—after grim results back in Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 and the Shibuya Incident arc. This also developed Naoya Zen’in and the Zen’in clan’s intentions following Gojo’s imprisonment and Yuji’s execution. I could say the same with the other small arc before the Culling Game, the Perfect Preparation arc. These three episodes helped establish Yuji’s team by introducing new supporting characters and understanding everyone’s goals.
Moving beyond the memes and tomfoolery, I already knew from reading manga years ago that audiences would have to rewatch the explanation episode of The Culling Game arc. However, I was confident that the average anime viewer would understand the stakes and how Kenjaku organized the ritual.
In a sense, if you understood the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons that Geto enacted in Jujutsu Kaisen 0, then the Culling Game should also make sense. Of course, the rules of this battle royale-esque arena can change. However, the rules and stakes should be clear to the average audience member.
Thank goodness, director Shōta Goshozono and MAPPA decided to dedicate Episode 50, “About the Culling Game”, to briefly explaining the situation and essentially what everyone on the good team is trying to accomplish throughout the Culling Game. This could have been Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3’s downfall, but it actually made viewers put their thinking caps on to understand everything.
Single-handedly, the episode following the expository episode, Episode 51, “Perfect Preparation”, was arguably the best episode of the season. This was the episode that culminated everything Maki Zen’in worked towards in her life, showing her whole family tree that she deserves to be the head of the Zen’in clan. This episode was animated in a cinematic style that fit the entire arc of this episode, the hand-painted style of Maki entering the Zen’in clan compound.
The voice actress for Maki, Mikako Komatsu, killed her performance in this episode when you could hear the actor bawling for her sister, Mai. The whimper and scream sounded way too real. Even when Komatsu delivers the coldest lines, even before going off on a killing spree, I could feel her deadpan resolve. It is like she is both at peace with what she is about to do and dead inside from all the pain and trauma she has had to overcome to get where she is.
The remarkable part is that I am confident that if you showed Episode 51 to someone who has never seen the show, it would still have elicited many emotions. If your friend is still skeptical about starting Jujutsu Kaisen and likes action-heavy anime, this is the episode to hook them in without too many spoilers either. I did not expect Goshozono to draw parallels between Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill and Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3, Episode 51. Yet, it worked because it tied into Maki’s revenge the same way The Bride took her revenge, tearing through O-ren Ishii’s House of Blue Leaves.
The finale, Episode 59, “Sendai Colony”, was also regarded as one of the best and most viewed episodes of the season because it finally showed us the culmination of Yuta Okkotsu’s training off-screen since the events in Jujutsu Kaisen 0. The fact that Yuta entered a one-versus-four situation and showed off his new power levels was an insane battle that also stretched the animators’ abilities. The animation of tearing the sky in the way it looked did not look easy.
In both Maki and Yuta’s focused episodes, they both showed great expertise from MAPPA’s animation skills and Goshozono’s vision to adapt these two iconic moments from the manga. For both episodes, it was so good that I stood up the whole time watching. Seeing these moments from the manga come to life off the page was a visual delicacy. These two fights alone should stave off the haters of Season 2’s fight scene animations. In retrospect, I found Season 3’s fights more entertaining, but Season 2’s fights were more emotionally devastating.
To tie in all the beautifully crafted animated fights this season, composer Yoshimasa Terui created a common theme. “Defeat Here” was the most commonly heard background track across the fights, and it resonated with Yuji and everyone else’s fights throughout the third season. “Burying” was so good during the Maki-centric fight in the Zen’in clan home because of how much it sounded inspired by “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” by Hotei (in Kill Bill). The orchestral rock themes worked to express the raw power within this huge fighting set piece, especially when every strong Zen’in family member joins in on the fight.
MAPPA and its team continue to elevate the anime bar with Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3, proving why they are a premier animation studio in the current anime industry. Riding the highs and praises for Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, MAPPA finally figured out what anime fans are starving for—at least here in North America. As long as they can keep up this level of work for the Culling Games arc Part 2 for Season 4, the fans will keep showing up—along with more Gojo, of course. If last season was Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, this was Return of the Jedi.
